Technology has driven astounding changes in modern society, but with it, unhappiness has only been amplified. Given the endless stream of perfect profiles online, dissatisfaction emerges in the lives of millions—one that, in the most critical years of adolescent development, many turn to drugs to contain. The proliferation of drug use in an increasingly moral, globalized world should never happen; however, the result of powerful nations ignoring the economies of struggling countries has crippled the war on drugs. Today in Colombia, the ignorance and underdeveloped strategies of influential neighbors have led to a dependence of farmers on the coca plant, leading to an expansion in its illegal production and cartel power.
Coca, an herb with leaves that are an essential ingredient in cocaine, has long been outlawed in the lands of Colombia. Nevertheless, as families across the country grew desperate to find a steady source of income, it became a staple of Colombian agriculture. Cooperation between cartel leaders and farmers means that coca growers are often paid in advance and do not have to worry about transport costs, all while coca itself already makes more than any other crop in the region. Although residents are often reluctant to abuse such illegal methods for money, the appeal of coca farming far outweighs the virtue where money is sparse and people live for subsistence. When the pandemic hit and the economy worsened even more, coca production catapulted to 245,000 hectares of cultivation in Colombia alone.
Despite the 2016 peace agreement in Colombia, efforts to uproot coca farming have proven largely unsuccessful. The previous administration under Iván Duque Márquez sought to eradicate such illicit activity, using aerial fumigations and the deployment of troops to prevent coca from being grown. However, this has done nothing except impede the ability of lower-class Colombians to make money; coca is still being grown at alarmingly high rates and cocaine continues to spread across Latin America. Under Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s new president, the country promised to stop such pointless, destructive procedures. Instead, Petro controversially embraces Colombia’s reliance on drugs, stating it futile to declare otherwise. Petro aims to provide the coca farmers with better, more alluring crops to grow that are legal and cannot harm anyone while stifling the ability of cartel bosses to continue building empires upon the suffering of others. The legalization of cocaine may seem counterintuitive, but given the failure of efforts to contain it over the past decade, it may just be the strange but necessary solution.
What remains clear is that something must be done to fight for the people of Colombia. Coca farmers are not criminals but rather victims of a vicious economy, penniless and left with no other options to survive. However, cocaine poses major risks for the whole of Latin America if it continues to spread across the region as it is right now. Cocaine stimulates the brain in unintended ways, releasing dopamine at unprecedented levels and ultimately creating a reliance in users with it. Similarly to alcohol, cocaine users will eventually build a tolerance and thus are at severe risk of overdosing with kidney failure, a stroke, a heart attack, and more. Once hooked, users are often unable to live normally again for weeks as they face withdrawal systems. If such a drug becomes commonplace in Latin America, its people face the risk of dependence on it, exacerbating both the economy and existing health issues.
The people of Ibero-America do not deserve such injustice. It is easy to forget the privilege we hold as Americans, the opportunities to be anything and anyone we want; many Colombians struggle every day just to keep their families alive. To create a world truly free of drugs and allow ourselves to flourish as a collective global community, we must first begin to address and support countries such as Colombia in their quest to lessen the influence of narcotics.
5/31/23
Works Cited:
“Cocaine.” Better Health Channel, 14 June 2000, www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/cocaine.
“ONDCP Releases Data on Coca Cultivation and Production in the Andean Region.” The White House, 14 July 2022, www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/briefing-room/2022/07/14/ondcp-releases-data-on-coca-cultivation-and-production-in-the-andean-region/.
Pozzebon, Stefano. “Colombia’s Drug Problem Is Worse than Ever. but It Has a Radical Solution.” CNN, 22 Nov. 2022, www.cnn.com/2022/11/22/americas/colombia-coco-decriminalize-intl-latam/index.html.